Man saws off, burns own foot to avoid work

A man in Austria has sawed off his own foot and thrown it into an oven in an attempt to avoid work.

Suffering from unemployment, he wanted to ensure that he would be judged unfit to work before he was to attend a meeting at the Labour Office, reports national broadcaster ORF.

The man went to his boiler room, placed his leg at the bench's circular saw and cut his foot off above the ankle. He then hobbled to his garage, bleeding profusely, and called for an ambulance.

Local police chief Franz Fasching said that while the man had lost a lot of blood, he was still conscious by the time paramedics and an air ambulance had reached the scene. Emergency services recovered the foot from his oven.

Fasching added: "The foot was taken to the hospital, but it was so badly burned that it could not be sewn back on."

Despite the injury and even though the man could be considered unfit for work, he will likely not be entitled to a disability pension as the wound was self-inflicted.

The man would now only qualify for the pension if he was officially declared mentally ill.